If you live in a world where "classic" comic-books, "retro" toys, "old-school" cartoons and "magical" childhood dreams matter the most, then this is the place for you...

Amazon Deals

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

SUPER MARKET SKIRMISH: THE PDQ INCIDENT

TALES FROM THE TOY CHEST

Stories of Childhood Toy Triumph and Tragedy

ByJohn "THE MEGO STRETCH HULK" Cimino

CASE NUMBER: 41890-Z

SUPER MARKET SKIRMISH: THE PDQ INCIDENT

Age: 9 years

Date: 1982

Place: King's

Location: Watertown, Massachusetts

While driving home with my mother after a long day of shopping at Bradlees, she decided to make a pit stop at King's down the street to get some groceries. What was interesting to me about this was that my mom usually went to the Stop n Shop in
the next town of Waltham where I lived. I didn't have a clue why she
stopped here. I guess it doesn't really matter, food shopping was food
shopping... but little did I know, I was in for another adventure (in my
mind anyway).

Walking in with my mom I noticed that King's wasn't like any super market I've ever
seen before. I was used to places like Star Market, Waltham Super Market or Stop n Shop but King's was
way different than those typical grocery stores. It was like a giant warehouse with food, produce and
canned goods all in open cardboard boxes on the shelves for cheap prices. I guess you
could say it was like a smaller BJ's or Cosco from what I can remember. But what was even more intriguing to me was that King's had food products I've never seen before.

Enter: PDQ Chocolate Milk Flavoring by Ovaltine. Now, I've seen and drank Nestle Quick chocolate mixwith milk many times before, but never PDQ.
Maybe this wouldn't have left such a big impression on my young mind,
but when my sharp eye noticed a little Spider-man picture on the front
of the bottle, I immediately walked over to investigate it.

Taking the jar off the shelf, I looked at it closely and read that "free" inside was one of ten Marvel Super Hero Stickers. As I turned the jar, I saw on the back was a picture of the Spidey sticker available in the set and... gulp... my
favorite superhero of all -- The Incredible Hulk! My heart soon began
to race. As I looked at the bottom of the bottle, I noticed you could
only see the back of the sticker so there was no way I could tell who
was on it... ARRGGHHH! I then started to look at the bottom of all
the jars on the shelf with no luck, every sticker was face up in the
bottle. The only way to see what superhero on each sticker was, was to
open the jar and dig for it. But honestly, how could I do that? I guess
when you're a super hero child addict like myself, you have to find a
way. And I certainly would...

Once I saw the Hulk on the back of this jar it was all over for me.

First thing I did was ask my mother if I could get a jar of this chocolate drink mix. Predictably she said "no."
So there was no way I could take a one in ten chance at luck to get the
Hulk sticker. What else could I do? Then it hit me -- I will go looking
for the Hulk sticker myself. And I won't be playing by societies rules.
Today little Johnny Cimino will be playing by his own rules even if it
gets him into trouble. He's going to go digging for that Hulk sticker
and take him home -- at any cost!!

As
my mother walked off I told her I would catch up to her later (it's the
early eighties so nobody watches their children). Then I surveyed the
area. I noticed there was a small gap between each shelf section. If I
was going to go digging through these containers, I had to put the
chocolate flavored mix somewhere. That gap was the perfect place to dump
it in so I could get to the sticker at the bottom. The biggest problem
(besides getting caught) was that I had to dump the ENTIRE contents
of the jar on the floor in that space. Oh boy, oh boy... I better get
that Hulk sticker as soon as possible because there was going to be a
huge mess... gulp!

I had a 1 in 10 chance to get the Hulk sticker...and I was going to get him no matter what the odds were!

I looked around and noticed nobody was in the aisle with me, the moment of truth was at hand. I thought to myself; "Once I get the Hulk sticker, I'm outta here..." I grabbed my first PDQ jar
off the shelf and twisted the cap off and then ripped the
protective paper seal underneath it (I can clearly remember smelling the
fresh chocolate mix). I took another look around before I leaned myself
next to the gap between the shelves and poured out the entire chocolate
mix into it. I have to say, the fact that the mix were these little
chunky pellets/beads made it easier for it to fall between the gap. If
it was a powdered mix then it would've been harder to control and it
might've fallen anywhere and everywhere (oh, lucky me). Anyway, the
first jar was completely empty as the sticker trickled down into my
hand. I looked with anticipation -- it was Spider-Man!!! Damn it!! I
shoved the sticker in my pocket with frustration. Now I had to do the
entire process again. As scared as I was, nothing was going to stop me
from getting that Hulk sticker.

I managed to repeat this process again. As the sticker came trickling down it was Captain America... ARRGGH! I did it again, it was Storm... ARRRGGGHHH!!And again, it was another Spider-man... ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! I
couldn't keep this up. I was starting to become more nervous than
before because even though I managed to hide the empty jars behind the
unopened ones, the pile of PDQ mix was getting so high between the shelves that it was starting to seep into the aisle.What a disaster!! Time was also running out, my mother had to be close to finishing up her shopping so I had to move faster.

I
grabbed another jar, repeated the dastardly process and got --
Spider-man again!!!! I loved Spidey, I always will. But honestly, I HATED him
that day! I was getting so mad that I began to cry and pray to God to
help me out (in my haste I didn't notice the contradiction that was --
hey, I was only nine years old). Now I was starting to tremble in rage
and fear because this was honestly getting ridiculous with all the open
jars and chocolate mix on the floor.

I needed a small
break to regroup so I quickly ran out of the aisle to see where my
mother was and I noticed that she was still shopping gleefully. When she
saw me she told me she was almost done and we would be leaving soon. I
said okay and as I raced back to the aisle, I knew I had only one more
chance.

As I nonchalantly walked to thesection,
I saw an elderly couple walking in the aisle shopping for stuff. I froze
with fear because if they saw the enormous pile of PDQ mix they
would let the manager of the store know about it and put an end to this
outrageously obsessive quest I was on. But luckily they never saw it and
walked right past it. I then scooted pass them and returned to the
heinous ritual. As I did the starting process of twisting off the cap
and then ripping off the paper seal, the couple was still shopping in
the aisle. I was pressured for time so I went about the dumping as usual
(this time the pile was spilled over and easy to see by everyone) and
wouldn't you know it, here comes ol' Jade Jaws himself trickling down
the jar and into my hand -- The Incredible Hulk sticker!!! What perfect
timing! I couldn't believe it! After emptying six bottles of PDQ mix, I got the sticker I craved and I was back with my mom walking to the checkout line.

When
I got home I proudly put the stickers in my sticker book and the Hulk,
was of course, the crown jewel of my collection. I made my peace with
Spider-man and the next day I stuck one of the Spidey stickers on my
pencil box at school. I looked at it everyday like a badge of honor
(yes, I was deranged and I'm going to hell). I eventually lost those
stickers and my sticker book as well. Years later, scrolling through
EBay auctions I saw the entire set of thestickers for sale and I hastily bought them and still have them to this day.

THE END??

It's funny that I never went back to King's again
and it was eventually torn down. Looking back I have to wonder how I
managed to get away with this debacle. Back then many stores didn't have
high-tech security cameras, but I was so naively blind to everything
around me when it came to superheroes that I just got lucky. And I have
to wonder what became of that pile of PDQ chocolate mix. It had
to be such a shock for the manager to see and I really do feel bad for
the person who had to clean it up... sorry (did I say I was going to
hell).

John
Cimino is a Silver and Bronze Age comic, cartoon and memorabilia expert
that runs a business called "Saturday Morning Collectibles." He buys, sells, appraises and gives seminars on everything pop culture, so if
you got something special, let him know about it. He contributes
articles to ALTER EGO, BACK ISSUE, RETRO FAN and THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR from TwoMorrows Publishing and has appeared on the AMC reality show Comic Book Men. He also represents some of comicdoms biggest stars and brings them to a Comic Con near you. John still thinks he's really Captain Marvel, people just don't have
the heart to tell him he's just an obsessed fanboy that loves to play
superheroes with his daughter Bryn. Contact him at johnstretch@live.com or follow on twitter at @Elastic_Hulk and have some fun.

So I had my daughter read this story for her daily 20 minute reading last night and I asked her what she thought about what daddy did. She said, and I quote..."You were just following your dreams Dadda." LOL! How awesome is my kid...

About Me

I'm a comic and toy historian who writes for ALTER EGO, THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR,RETRO FAN and BACK ISSUE magazine. I run "Saturday Morning Collectibles" where we buy and sell everything pop culture (especially vintage Marvel and DC toys and comics). I also represent and manage comic legend "Rascally" Roy Thomas. Contact me at johnstretch@live.com for seminar speakings, buying or selling, appraisals, private signings and appearances for Mr. Thomas. Follow me on Instagram at megostretchhulk, on twitter @Elastic_Hulk and listen to my Power Cosmic Podcast every week because I like attention...